DUNEDIN PARLIAMENTARY UNION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 7541, 19 April 1886, Page 3

DUNEDIN PARLIAMENTARY UNION.

Tke third sessiou of the Duuedin Parliamentary Union was opened on Saturday evening at the Lyceum Hall, on. which occasion there were about 40 members present and also a fair attendance of the general public.

ELECTION OF SPEAJCEH,

Mr J.-L. Gillies was elected Speaker THE GOVERNOR'S ADDIiESS.

After the election of the Speaker, The Govekxor delivered his address to the House. He said: Gentlemen,—lt affords me much pleasure to again meet you in session assembled. I regret to state.that the depression from which the Colony was suffering when I laat addressed you still continues. While my Advisers are aware that the low prices of wool; grain, and other products have much to do with the prevailing commercial stagnation, they believe that not a little of the Colony's difficulties are directly traceable to the extravagant borrowing of the past, to the injudicious expenditure of large portions of the money so borrowed on unproductive lines of railway and on other works of iiu uuremunerative character, aud to the great cost of government, which they think is out of proportion the circumstances and necessities of the Colony. Being strongly of opinion that these several matters require to be taken into earnest and thoughtful consideration, my Advisers intend to submit for discussion on an early date a series of resolutions dealing with the questions of further borrowing, of administrative reform, and of retrenchment in every department of the public service. The question of Public Works will receive due consideration. Whilst fully recognising the necessity of the strictest economy, my Advisers are equally impressed with the imuortance of opening up the country and continuing the construction of such Public Works as, by judicious expenditure, may be made remunerative. Resolutions on this subject will also be submitted.

In connection with administrative reform, your attention will be directed to the necessity of taking steps for reorganising the Civil Service. My Advisers are of opinion that the efficiency of the Service will be promoted and its usefulness increased by affirming the principle that all future appointments and preferments shall be only attainable by merit and lengthened services, and not by political patronage as has too often been the case in the past. For this purpose a bill for the creation of a Civil Service board will be introduced.

The census now being taken will undoubtedly show the need there is of a revision of the representation of the people in Parliament, and to that end you will be asked to consider a measure which, while aiming at a reduction of members, will ensure a tolerably equitable representation on a basis of population. The peaceful attitude of the Natives warrant considerable reductions in the Native Department, and indicates that the day is not far distant when the Native race will bear the same burdens, enjoy the same benefits, and be subject in all respects to the same legislation as the European portion of the population. The question of the relation of the State to labour has of late forced itself on the consideration of the Cabinet,!and my Advisers deem it their duty to assert the principle that no individual has a right to demand employment at the hands of the State.

My Advisers view with alarm the attempt of the French Government to acquire sovereignty over the New Hebrides, and hope that the energetic .action of the Federal Council, strengthened by the moral support of the various Australasian Colonies, will prevent France from annexing these islands. Amongst the bills to be submitted to you will be measures dealing with educational, electoral, and legal reform.

My Advisers are fully alive to the necessity of settling the people on the lands ot the Colony, aud resolutions will be brought in dealing with this and with the cognate question of immigration.

Gentlemen, I trust that your deliberations may conduce to the prosperity and good government of this country. THE SUXISTIIY. Mr Keith Ramsay then announced the names of the members forming the now Ministry. They were as follow: Mr Keith Ramsay, Premier and Treasurer; Mr F. Fitchett, Attorney-general; Mr G. M, Barr, Minister of Public Works; Mr M. Cohen, Minister of Education; Mr C. Darling, Minister of Lands; Mr Chisholm, Colonial Secretary and Minister of Mines; Mr M. Sinclair, Postmastergeneral and Minister of Customs.

DURATION OF THE SESSION. The Standing Orders of the House were then suspended in. order to allow .Mr Cohen to give notice o& a bill to limit the duration of. the session ta four months. The bill was subsequently ; introduced, and after some discussion with regard to it, the debate was adjourned until the next meeting of the Union. -CHAIHJTAJf OF COMMTTTEHS. Mr R. H. Leary was elected Chairman of Committees. NOTICES. The following notices were given :— Mr Holmes for leave to introduce a bill to amend the Land Transfer Act; also that he would move—" That it is desirable that school committees should be elected by proportional representation."

Mr Damlng for leave to introduce a bill entitled the Representation of the People Act. Mr Hai/lenstrin that he would move—" That this House learus with great gratification that the Bast and West Coast railway is about to be undertaken by a London syndicate; and that this House urges upon the Government that, consistent with the interests of the Colony, every facility be given to such syndicate for carrying out this great work." Mr Cohen for leave to introduce a bill to create a Civil Service board for the Colony of New Zealand; and also a bill to amend the Regulations of Elections Act, and one to amend ' the Education Act.

ADDIIESS-IN-EEPLY. Mr E. T. FmcKBB moved the Address-in-~ Reply. The first clause of the Speech was the one on which he felt inclined to build most hope. In this the Ministry stated their opinion as to the causes which had brought the Colony to its present position, and further gave the House to understand that they were not going to content themselves with this bare expression of opinion. Resolutions were to be brought down dealing with administrative reform and retrenchment in every department of the public service, also measures for reducing the number of members aiid reorganising the Civil Service. This must be taken to mean that we had at last a Government determined not only to talk vaguely of the advisability of retrenchment, but to actually bring down definite proposals to the House and risk a little unpopularity for the sake of principle. It was not pleasant to think of the position this young Colony had already drifted into, and it was high time for the House and the people at large to rise and say that our country had been experimented with enough, and that there should be no more of it. lleforring to the East and West Coast railway, he should deprecate its construction at present, but thought if, as had been suggested, the Railway League in Canterbury desired to despatch delegates to lay their side of the question before that House, such a course might be useful as tending -to remove or lessen local prejudices. The speaker thoroughly agreed with the principle laid down in the Speech as to the duty of the State with regard to labour, and thought that the action which had been forced upon the Government in opening relief works in every town must disorganise the labour market and prove injurious both to the employers and the men thsmselves. It could not bo good for the men to get into the habit of trooping into town as to a kind of labour asylum, where they could work leisurely upon half wages, and the employers could not be gainers, because these men engaged upon relief works should bo upon the open labour market, and their competition should be tending to keep down the current rate of wages. The speaker referred briefly to one or two other points in the Address, all of which, however, he considered of secondary importance to a comprehensive scheme of retrenchment, [t was in the faith that the Government would carry through such a scheme that he intended to give them his support.

Mr F. E. Baume, in seconding the motion, said the ability and fulness with which the main features of his Excellency's Speech had been traversed was a source of pleasure to him, in common, ho was sure, with the other members of the Union. There was one point, however, in his Excellency's Speech upon which he felt sure that hon. members would pardon him if, even at the risk of repetition, he should say a few words. The subject to which he referred was the necessity, so strongly insisted upon in the Speech, for immediate aud substantial reduction in the expenditure of the Colony. There could be but very little doubt that New Zealand wasj over-governed in every sense of the word. Our legislative machinery

and establishment were worked on a scale of magnitude suited rather to the requirements of a. country possessing a population of from 3,000,000 to 4,000,000, rather than to a Colony containing about 000,000 people. With respect to the question of borrowing alluded to in the Speech, he presumed there would be but littles hesitation among the members of the Union in affirming that it would be necessary to borrow to a small extent at least for the purpose of bringing the public works at present in hand to a remunerative point. The works for which the money should bo borrowed should be specially determined by Parliament beforehand. A plan

similar to this had been followed in Victoria, with results which fid ly justified i ts adoption here. What the Colony required at this juncture! was a statesman—a strong-willed man —who, like Mr Service in Victoria, would take a firm stand on this question aud declare that under no circumstances, with the exceptions indicated, should the expenditure exceed the revenue. He thought the timo had arrived when the property tax should bo replaced by a land and income t:ix.

Mr I>. R. Cuamian congratulated the liou. member who had moved the Addruss-in-Ivcply upon the very temperate aud sensible speech, he had made, and also the seconder of the Address upon the reasonable manner in which he had dealt with the subject>forc the

House. With reference to the programme of the Government, he thought they were to be congratulated also upon producing an address of the '■ gentle Jane " type ruferred to in the fable, and of which theyneact not be ashamed.—(Laughter.) He thought if the Government submitted to the House this session a policy in accordance with the sentence referring to public works, that policy would virtuallybe an abandonment and closing of further public works, because not one prospective work could be found that could be made remunerative. If it was their intention to adopt such a policy, he thought it was not unlikely before the session came to an end that he would be found sitting on their side of the House, supporting them in their strong and manful resolution. Governments had hitherto gone to such an enormous length with regard to (mblic works in this i olony, and their names bad been so associated with expense and borrowed money, that it would be a great resolution on the part of the Colony and on that of the now Government if they determined that, for the present at least, they should endeavour to live within their means.—(Hear, hear.) He congratulated the Government on having produced something thoroughly English in the reference made to the attempts of the French to colonise the New Hebrides : but he should have liked to have seen something like evenhanded justice dealt out to the French by the Imperial viui'ernmeut, who held a purely French population under their thumb at the Mauritius. The only reason why the people in New Zealand and neighbouring Colonies took any interest in the New Hebrides was because Wesleyans and Presbyterians had made them virtually British. He observed in one paragraph in the Address that it was asserted as a principle that no individual had a right to demand employment at the hands of the State. Now this State had in the past suffered, and was now suffering grievously through the negation of this principle.- The part of the Government policy referring to the relation of the State to labour was the most admirable feature of the whole policy. He was glad to see the hon. the Post-master-general aud another hon. member of the Ministry were at length converted to so reasonable a doctrine as this, which he (the speaker) understood involved a direct negation of a protective policy.—(Hear, hear.) Mr Keith Ra'jisay said it was a matter of very great gratification indeed to members of the Ministry that the Address had been spoken of in the way it had by the ilOn. gentleman who led the Opposition. He ventured to predict that if other members on the other side of the House were as pleased with the various measures and resolutions which the Government were going to present to the House during the present session, they would have their measures discussed very fairly. There was no captious opposition on the part of the hon. gentleman who led the Opposition, and in many respects his speech was a very great improvement on the tone of the Opposition speech delivered the previous session. Pie should have liked the hon. gentleman to have criticised the Address more adversely, as it would have put the Government rather more on their metal, and have, perhaps, given' rise to a livelier discussion. With regard to the colonisation of the New Hebrides, he might say that their objections to it were that if the French colonised these islands it would probably lead to their being made at no distant date a penal settlement; and, considering the efforts of Presbyteria7i and other churches to civilise the people there, he thought it would be a matter for regret if the praiseworthy and successful efforts of the past were to- be utilised by a convict settlement from France.—(Hear, hear.) Mr Hodge regretted that the leader of the Opposition showed a tendency to support the Government. He then referred to the proposal of the Government to reduce the Civil Service—a proposal which he strongly deprecated. He thought the Government should bring forward some measures which would iucrease the prosperity and population of the country, and thereby create a dernaud fora large Civil Service instead of reducing it to the present requirements of the Colony. He maintained that if the Government made a reduction in the Civil Service a number of men would be thrown out of enrployinent who would be- fit for nothing, but would only swell the ranks of the unemployed. He did not agree with the view of the Government that no man had a right to demand labour of the State. He maintained rather that a man had a right, and thought that the Government should bring clown a measure to carry a railway through the centre of Otago and borrow money to complete the lines already started, and thus give employment to the unemployed. He also moved the following motion :—" That the Governor's Address does not meet with the approval of the House, inasmuch as it provides no remedy for the existing depression, aud by the tenets it puts forth tends to increase that depression." Mr Hastings seconded the motion, which, on being put to the House, was lost.

Mr Haiuus said the administrative policy of the Government met with-his entire approval, but their legislative policy was shrouded in the usual ambiguity which characterised governors' addresses, and led the House to learn nothing of what they were likely to be favoured with in the way of a legislative policy during the present session.. ■

Mr Cohen and Mr A. H. Siielton also 3poke on the subject under discussion, after which the House adjourned until next Saturday week.